When The Lights Go Down

After a decent bunch of food from the Halayan restaurant, Eric, Wendy and Yun-Yeong stepped out, each one satisfied with the meal.

"Well Yun, you were right. That food is the good stuff." Eric yelled out.

"Eh, my mother made it better." Yun-Yeong replied. "She put way more lime juice in the sauce, gave it a way better taste."

"I still liked it." Wendy added.

"Well, we're full anyway." Eric said, checking his watch. "Now, where do we hide out?"

"Hide out?" Wendy asked.

"I mean, Blades is probably trying to kill Yun-Yeong, so I think we need a place to hide out for the next while."

"Any ideas?" Yun-Yeong asked.

"It should be somewhere high up, so we can see the others." Wendy asked.

"And some kind of take-out nearby." Yun-Yeong added.

"Yeah, sounds good." Eric nodded, flicking through the map on his watch. "So maybe the Black Halo?"

"The what?" Wendy asked.

"I'm guessing it's some kind of nightclub?" But according to the landmarks page, it's the sixth highest building in this place, and I think it's only a couple blocks away."

The three of them moved through the soulless blocks of apartments, making their way past a few faces. Cyrus and Valentina, as well as Seeta and Silvia, and Micah. But eventually they found the building, a black box with a broken neon sign displaying 'Back Ha' on it. Eric went inside, and the light was already turned on.

"Hold it." He put his hand over the door. "Why would the lights be on?"

"I'd have guessed they were always on." Yun-Yeong replied.

"But why? I'm guessing there's someone here." Eric mumbled.

Eric made his way through the halls, finding nothing through the ground floor of the building, except for accidentally kicking over a small switch, leading to incredibly loud dubstep breaking into the building. Eric tried pulling the switch back, but it didn't move, the dubstep cloud still looming over them. He reluctantly went over to the girls.

"Wanna head to the top of the building?" He yelled.

The three of them headed to the top of the building, walking up metal stairway upon metal stairway where it was just a small square up top, with a metal railing around it, with a few plants and an ashtray, alongside some black metal chairs and tables.

"So this is the sixth tallest building in the district?" Wendy asked.

"Seems like false advertising." Yun-Yeong replied, breathing heavily.

"Uh, are you doing okay?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, it was just a tough walk." Yun-Yeong heaved, wiping sweat from her brow.

"You two need water?" Eric asked, turning to Wendy.

"Yeah." Yun-Yeong replied, sitting down, the sweat multiplying.

"O-kay." Eric replied, taking a few steps back. "Wendy, look after Yun for me."

Wendy nodded, taking a seat next to Yun-Yeong. Eric went down, the dubstep still blaring.

"Are you doing okay?" Wendy asked, shaking.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little sick."

The door opened, and Micah burst into the room, breathing heavily.

"Oh…hey guys." He panted.

Wendy leapt out of her seat. "W-What happened? Where's Eric?"

"Didn't see him." Micah panted, shutting the door, putting his hands on it in an attempt to hold it shut, only for a blue outline of a sword to barely miss his midsection. He jumped back, and Odebode made his way in.

"W-why are you attacking him?" Wendy mumbled.

"To prevent his plans." He replied coldly, pointing his blade just short of Micah's nose.

"What plans, exactly?" Micah screamed. "You keep talking about plans, but I don't have any!"

Odebode didn't respond, he just leapt to him, and Micah ducked under his blade. Micah ran his sharpened nail through his index finger, producing a crystal blade. When Odebode attacked him again, he was able to match him, leaning in and stepping to the side, causing Odebode to fall over. He got up, staring at Yun-Yeong, summoning his sword once again. He jumped to her, and she barely managed to jump back, tripping over a chair and landing on her back. Odebode made his way over to her, Micah frozen in fear. Odebode made a swing, but Wendy got onto his back before he could make the final cut. The slash only cut Yun-Yeong's outstretched hand, while Wendy felt the electricity scrape past her bones as the electricity entered her hands, as she discharged it all into Odebode. The sword disappeared, and Wendy slammed Odebode against the railing, rapidly punching him in the stomach. Micah shoved Wendy out of the way, pushing a shocked Odebode over the railing.

Wendy's immediately ran over to Yun-Yeong, checking her for any blood. She noticed the blood on her hand, licking her finger to wipe the blood off. Yun-Yeong winced at this, but the blood was coming back. Wendy's eyes jolted open, and she looked at her hand, feeling a burning sensation on her fingers, like she just dipped them in acid. She let out a shock on one of the plants, and then looked at Yun-Yeong.

"What is this?" Wendy asked her, her breath speeding up.

"It's…it's nothing." Yun-Yeong lied. "It's just how my power works."

"Can I see this?" Micah asked, shoving himself next to Wendy, inspecting her hand.

"Okay." He affirmed to himself after a few seconds. "Wendy, I'll need you to go wash your hands, and get some toilet paper to help with this."

Wendy bolted out of the smoking area, and Micah helped Yun-Yeong back onto a seat.

"You..." he hesitated slightly. "You do know what this is, right?"

Yun-Yeong nodded slowly, looking over the railing.

"Looks like late-stage blood rot to me." Micah sighed. "Any ideas when this started?"

"About two years ago." Yun-Yeong sighed.

"Two years, huh. Isn't that when Ms. Brightside started attacking?"

Yun-Yeong just nodded.

"So what made you do it?" He asked.

"I hated them." She muttered.

"That it?" Micah replied, confused.

"And they hated me." She groaned. "You get it."

"Anti-blood, huh?" Micah rolled his eyes at this statement. "So you knew you would die, so you took a bunch of people out with you. I'm guessing that's the idea?"

"Yeah." She sighed.

"Right, right." Micah replied, folding his arms. "So…why do you want to live, exactly?"

"Excuse me?!" Yun-Yeong got out of her chair, and a sharp pain made its way through her, forcing her to sit back down.

"Woah, woah, sorry!" Micah panicked slightly. "But…two years. I'm sorry, but you have around three months left, being generous. You planning on sacrificing yourself in the event of the others getting voted off, or what?"

"You…you think I don't know that?" Yun-Yeong whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. "I just…I need to see my mom again."

"Your…mother?" Micah asked.

"It's just…the whole Ms. Brightside thing. When she found out…you, you know."

She looked down at the ground, tears falling onto the metal floor.

"I just need to see her." She sobbed. "I need to tell her I'm sorry."

"Right, right." Micah nodded.

Wendy burst into the room, tears streaming down her face, holding several rolls of toilet paper.

"Th-this is enough, right?"

"It should be." Micah replied calmly, taking the paper and avoiding the shocks of electricity leaking out of Wendy.

"This might hurt a little."

He wrapped the paper around Yun-Yeong's bleeding hand, feeling her jump slightly as he tightened it.

"Okay, that should be good for the time being." Micah affirmed. "But you should try asking the hosts if they can get you real bandages."

"Sure, sure." Yun-Yeong replied. "You staying here?"

"Nope." Micah sighed. "I…need to cover my tracks. Because I'm pretty sure I ended up killing a man."

"Well, I'm sure as hell not voting for you." Yun-Yeong sighed. "And I'm pretty sure we can get Eric and Huang to cover you."

"Cool, cool. See you guys at the trial, I guess." Micah sighed, sweating.

He made his way through the club, the dubstep still blaring. When he left the club, he saw Eric carrying the water bottles. Micah explained the situation, and Eric just looked back, scowling.

"Right, right." Eric muttered, scratching his neck. "Well, we need a pretty damn good lie, but I'll come up with something."

"Thanks, see you later." Micah sighed, his legs still shaking from the whole ordeal. He went to the other side of the building, trying to see how exactly he died, and who he could pin it on. He looked around, checking to see if anyone was around. It seemed he was fine, so he turned the corner to inspect the body.

The one that…wasn't there anymore.